March 10, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
179 
enable the profit and loss account to be calculated without mis- 
gi7ing3. That Tomatoes grown under glass pay well in May, June, 
and July, and from October onwards, is undoubted, while in favour¬ 
able seasons growers of outdoor fruit can see the price fall lower 
than it has hitherto done with equanimity. Private cultivators 
have a different question to face, but nevertheless the weather is 
an important point with many of them. It would be a great deal 
to bo able to relieve the congestion of glass structures by having a 
good supply of Tomatoes in the open air, and, hardly less important, 
it would be a distinct boon to amateurs who have no room under 
glass to feel that they might safely rely upon a crop out of doors 
every season. This our variable climate forbids, and we can there¬ 
fore only seek to mitigate its advantages by good judgment and 
sound methods of culture. 
It is natural that Tomato growers should find much food for 
interest in the battle with the Potato disease that has been waging 
with varying success for so many years. The two great esculents 
belong to the same natural order, and there is much in common 
between them. It is true that the one is an underground cropper 
and the other is not, in which point they are wide asunder ; but 
both are tender, though not in an equal measure, they have the 
■same food preferences, and the same susceptibility to disease. We 
may expect that bad years for the Potato in respect to disease will 
be bad years for Tomatoes also, and it has been found that crops 
of both are liable to suffer when one becomes infested in the 
immediate vicinity of the other. The Potato disease is spread by 
minute floating organisms termed zoospores. These bodies have 
oar-like appendages, which enable them to float upon the air, and 
when they find a suitable resting place they become, as it were, 
rooted, and throw out growths which rapidly develop until the 
whole plant attacked becomes infested with them. It is probable 
that these zoospores are largely responsible for the spread of the 
Tomato disease. In the tissue of the allied plant they find a 
medium as suitable for their development as that of the Potato. 
Nor is it too much to suppose that we owe the recurrence of the 
Tomato disease to the presence of resting spores similar to those 
which Mr. Worthington Smith discovered in the Potato fungus. 
These micro-organisms exist from year to year, and when a 
predisposition to disease occurs they ramify and develop. 
Although the exact conditions under which the fungus finds its 
best opportunity are not known, general observations suffice to 
indicate a more or less definite solution. In dry seasons the Potato 
disease is absent; in wet years it is invariably a source of heavy 
loss. There may be some who have formed the deductions from 
this fact, that excess of moisture actually breeds fungi, just as 
many still cling to the theory of the generation of insects by 
putrefaction. The true explanation probably is that the absorption 
of an excess of watery matter leads to the formation of soft weak 
tissues by the plant, and as this does not offer the same resistance 
to the encroachments of the fungus as do more substantial sub¬ 
stances, the ever - patient enemy at length finds itself powerful 
enough to make headway. A plant gorged with watery sap is 
deprived of its best armour—thoroughly elaborated and perfected 
growth. The application of anti-blight, sulphate of copper, and 
other remedies may be expected to be successful when they are 
used as preventives—that is, for checking the spread of the 
mycelium and the subsequent ripening of fresh spores, but they 
can no more be relied upon as cures of bad infestations than con¬ 
sumption can be remedied when the lungs are nearly gone. In 
each case the object must be to check the loss of tissue in the early 
stage of the attack, and enable the purification of the blood in the 
one case and of the sap in the other, to be carried on with sufficient 
freedom for maintaining health. 
As the importance of a healthy and well-nourished plant is 
thus manifested, the question of food becomes even more 
important than when it is considered in the light of enhancing 
cropping qualities alone. Here again we find an analogy between 
the two plants mentioned. Experiments by Wagner, Voelcker, 
and others with the Potato have shown that phosphates and potash 
are all-important for insuring productiveness, and that nitrogen, 
although serviceable as an auxiliary, is almost valueless when used 
alone. Dr. Voelcker doubled the Potato crop by an application of 
4 cwt. of mineral superphosphate, 3 cwt. of potash salts (kainit), 
and 2 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia per acre, the latter yielding 
nitrogen. We can now prove our arithmetic by turning to Mr. 
William Thomson’s experiments with manure for Tomatoes, as 
recorded in the Journal some time ago. He employed two sets 
of plants ; the one being grown in loam and horse droppings pre¬ 
pared for a Mushroom bed, hence rich in nitrates, the other in 
maiden loam, with the addition of phosphates and potash. The 
former grew more rapidly than the latter, but in size and quality 
of fruit were vastly inferior, while they were attacked severely 
by the disease, the others escaping completely. Subsequent ex¬ 
periments with Potatoes gave the same result, and led him to the 
conclusion, perhaps somewhat too comprehensive in the face of 
Dr. Voelcker’s testimony to the value of sulphate of ammonia in a 
minor quantity for Potatoes, that “ no nitrogenous manures should 
ever be given to any of the Solanacese.” 
The importance of these experiments to Tomato growers lies in 
the conviction they convey that much can be done both to fortify 
the plants and render them more fruitful by a proper choice of 
food elements. It has been found, in practice, that the enrichment 
of soil for Tomatoes leads directly to luxuriance of growth, liability 
to disease, and limited productiveness. Scientific inquiry amends 
this discovery by showing that the chief danger lies in the addition 
of manures strongly charged with nitrogen. There are nitrates 
enough in pure sound loam, and to add more is to do harm. Instead 
of adding rich decayed farmyard manure, or animal droppings to 
the soil, supply phosphorus in the form of bone meal, or super¬ 
phosphate of lime and potash in the form of wood ashes, kainit, or 
muriate of potash. Not much need be given at first. The best 
results are admittedly secured by planting in a narrow border, with 
a small bulk of soil. A trough or long box 6 inches wide and the 
same deep is ample for a start, and support can be subsequently 
given in the form of top-dressings and liquid manure when the 
roots show at the surface. In Mr. Henderson’s garden at Dulwich, 
where splendid crops are grown, the Tomatoes are first planted in 
a mere layer of soil, and fresh dressings are given from time to 
time. The same plan is followed in other cases, and when accom¬ 
panied by good treatment in other respects is invariably followed 
by vigorous yet sturdy growth and large clusters of fruit. Large 
deep borders of rich soil are a mistake. They induce exuberance 
of leafage predisposed to disease, and the energies expended in that 
direction are in a large measure wasted. The subject will be 
resumed.—W. P. Wright. 
FEEDING VINES. 
Phosphates and potassic elements are the manures for Vines, 
with a certain amount of sulphates, which signifies that lime can be 
given as sulphate-gypsum, also potash, which is cheaper and more 
substantial in that form than as a nitrate, which vanishes rapidly with 
every watering, and is very expensive. To aid Vines in swelling their 
crops phosphoric acid, potash, and nitrogen are absolutely essential, 
and as the Vines are able to appropriate those elements at once they 
should be given in a readily available form, say superphosphate of lime 
two parts, nitrate of potash one part, and sulphate of lime one part. 
The latter makes the others more lasting whilst affording sulphur. 
These should be mixed and applied at the rate of 4 ozs. per square 
yard when the Vines are bursting into leaf, when the Grapes are thinned, 
and again when taking the last swelling after stoning. The stimulant 
will assist those with ample feeders to carry grand crops to perfection. 
It is, however, merely adding poison to poison to apply mixtures of the 
character named to soils loaded with humus and the roots of the Vines 
as many feet from the surface as they ought to be inches. Then 
something of a mechanical nature, such as lifting and fresh soil— 
in fact gravel—in place of the humus is needed more than stimu¬ 
lating food. 
Blood mixed with wood ashes is unequalled as a nitrogenous and 
potassic manure for Vines, and costs very little beyond the trouble in 
preparation, which is to dry the blood thoroughly with wood ashes and 
keep in a dry place. Sprinkle on a good handful to the square yard 
after each watering, washing it in lightly, or if the border is well 
damped daily that will suffice to bring it within reach of the surface 
roots, and the next watering will carry it down fast enough. Some 
growers sprinkle the borders daily with liquid manure, say a 3 gallon 
watering potful to 30 square yards, and then some moisture a.nd 
ammonia passes into the atmosphere, whilst the major portion 
is absorbed by the surface roots. Thus at both ends the^ Grapes 
make much out of the small but regular supplies of nourishment. 
Other cultivators mulch the border with sweetened stable litter, 
the straw having been shaken out, and keep this regularly damped, 
adding a little fresh material occasionally. ■ Everyone, therefore, can 
feed Vines in some way or other, and those means that encourage 
surface roots are much the best.—G. A, 
OPEN AIR PEACHES. 
In his critique on Mr. Iggulden’s article “ Nous Verrons " (page 144) 
makes use of the observation “ that it is in the interest of science and 
good gardening that he has brought this subject to the front.” 
let us carry on the discussion a little further, and see how far the article 
in question as written by Mr. Iggulden has departed from such. I 
re-read Mr. Iggulden’s article carefully, and the only part I could see 
that “ Nous Verrons ” could “ stretch a point on ” was in the part where it 
was mentioned that the writer had lifted two young Peach trees whilst 
in full flower, and without any harmful results, a statement which I can 
fully believe, as the Peach, like the Vine, is one of the most tractable 
fruit-bearing subjects under the sun. When reading that part of Mr. 
Iggulden’s article it naturally occurred to me that it was to illustrate 
that Peach trees could be lifted without the fear of any harmful results 
